Fiona Frost: Order of the Black Moon (39 page)

Victoria laughed for a moment and answered coyly, “I wouldn’t call it romance, Detective, but we’re in a union.”

“A union?”

“A union is an agreement between two vampires that love each other,” Dimitri interjected.
“
T
he Southern Vampire Alliance
recognizes it
,
and I declared
it
by my powers of Nosfu and made it official.”

Lauren wore a mask of perplexity as she tried to
immerse her mind in the words flying around her
.
Willow
was frozen. I worried about her mental state, hoping it was only temporary.

“Oh yea
h
, you are a Nosfu, Dimitri
.
Is that correct?
”
t
he
detective
asked, his eyebrows knit together in concentration.

“Yes, thank you for noticing,” Dimitri said in a pseudo-foreign accent
, grinning.

Dimitri excused himself for a moment.
Victoria and Melanie stare
d at us
, hatred sprinkled in their eyes.
The moment was as awkward and hostile as it could have been.

Dimitri
returned
with a golden goblet,
took
a drink and set it
on the
coffee table.
I had no idea what was in the goblet
but
didn’t want to know.

“Well, I tha
nk you for
your time.
We’ll be going now,
”
the detective
said abruptly
, gesturing for our group to move
towards the
door.

Willow jumped up, grabbing Lauren by the wrist and locking with her at the elbows.
To no surprise, t
he
inseparable duo
was first to the front door
, letting themselves out, leaving it ajar for the rest of us.
Wolfe waited for me to pass
,
filed in behind me,
and passed
it off to Detective Chase.

After piling into the Impala,
I couldn’t help but feel
as though
I had been cursed by just entering that creepy house.
Lauren switch
ed positions
with Wolfe
in the backseat of the car
, taking the center position
so she could
console her best friend
who wasn’t doing well
.

“Detective, can you please drop
me and Willow
off at Arles Cave since it is on the way
?
”
Lauren asked politely.

“Lauren, I don’t think I can take more scary crap today, seriously,”
she
whispered, her hands
still
shaking.

“
Doc
, stop being ridiculous.
We’re going to the cave with a bunch of
Hartford
hotties
—
so chill
.”

Detective looked at me in the margin of his eye
, crunching his eyebrows in mystification
.

“
W
hy
do
you want to visit the scene of two
crimes
?
At night?
”
he
asked, pulling the Impala next to a stop sign.

“Well, t
hey’ve been cleared, right?
They’re no longer active crime scenes
.
”

A sudden onset of gloom assaulted Lauren’s face as she anxiously awaited Detective Chase’s reply.

“Yes,
they
were
cleared by our team,
but it’s obviously dangerous
.
I couldn’t in good conscious drop you off for a joy night in a place where two murders have happened.”

Lauren leaned up towards Detective Chase, putting her hand on the back of my seat.

“No, it is for the Hartford University Paranormal Science Department
.
Professor Black set it up.
They’re up there, about ten students, all taking readings
.”

“Oh,
alright
.
I suppose that will be fine, then.
I’ll notify the police department
it’s
taking place
,
and they’ll be sure and do extra surveillance to keep you guys safe.
Will Alex Drumley be there, Lauren?”

“Yes
, he’s going,” Willow brightened.

“How do you know?
”
he
inquired, looking at her through the rearview mirror as he pulled into the parking area next to the cave.

“
I am acquainted with people at Hartford who
were
kind enough to provide me with a list of attendees. I was disappointed to discover a boy I was interested in couldn’t make it
,”
she
lamented.

“So, that’s why you were trying to back out, huh?
”
Lauren scoffed,
smacking her
on the knee.

“No
!
That is not why.
I have had a difficult day already. Not sure if my psyche can handle
orbs,”
her
voice squeaked.

“Fiona
, it
wouldn’t be a bad idea if you
tagged along to
get a feel for Mr. Drumley.
It will be safe with that many people there
,
and I’ll
have some uniforms keep an eye on the place
.
Plus, Agent Bronson
is still on duty
.”

“Oh gosh, another paranormal night
?
”
I exclaimed.

“I’ll go too, Fiona,” Wolfe added
.
“I’ll text my parents right now.”

Suddenly, I felt like going.

“
Alright
, I’ll go.
I’ll give Maddie a heads up I won’t
be home after her game,” I added warily.

We climbed out of the
car;
the sun
set
was
beautiful
,
framed
by
a rainbow of colors.
There were four cars parked in the parking area, one with a Hartford faculty sticker like my mother. Professor Black. Agent Bronson took his position at the mouth of the cave, waving goodbye.

Using the flashlights on our phones, w
e
entered the cave and
marched
down the
musky, stale
corridor
towards the
main
area
with the waterfall
, Willow already whining about being scared.
Lauren held her tiny frame close with her right arm wrapped around her shoulder as they walked together as a unit.

The Hartford team had placed light sources throughout the corridor
,
and in the
main
area,
but nothing seemed
as
if
it could light it enough to feel safe.

We met up with the team, w
ho had filled
the main area next to the waterfall
with folding tables holding up many monitors and meters, powered by a noisy generator with the exhaust piped into the hole in the ceiling.
They had situated somewhat of a tent over their equipment to prevent the cave water droplets from the ceiling from shorting out and ruining their electronics.
I figured they knew what they were doing and had all of their bases covered.
Seemed like they had taken a lot of time in the
set-up
of the room
and were in for a long night.

I saw a few familiar faces such as Duncan Doyle and Ralph Booner, who I recognized from my interactions with the
previous
murder case
our group had worked on at the Foster Manor
.
They had both supported the notion that a ghost had murdered Gilroy Foster so I could
n’t
have taken either of them seriously from that point on.

On a folding chair behind the
chaos,
I
caught sight of the voluptuous
Camber Johnson.
She
looked
intently
at
her phone, obviously having an issue with a signal
.
I immediately gauged Wolfe’s expression as he noticed her
, a smile spreading across his chiseled face
.
He waved hello
,
and she pointed to Ralph and fanned her
face as if
she had suddenly gotten hot.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, but it supported Wolfe’s story she was
interested in
Ralph and not
him.

Professor Black was in his usual black suit, arms folded
,
watching over his group from the shadows. There couldn’t have been a better-suited leader of the ghost hunters with pale skin, dark eyes
,
and black-as-night shoulder-length hair. His voice was ominous and deep,
sounding
pitch-altered.

As the night progressed, I
grew
tired
,
and Wolfe ran his fingers through my hair, rubbing my scalp methodically, pulling me backward to lean on his legs.
Maddie and
the detective
weren’t there, so I didn’t see the harm in the interaction since
the inseparable duo
believed
we were only
friends.
And
,
for the most part, we
were
only friends
as nothing was official besides a secret, mutual attraction
.

Paying attention to my mission,
I observed
Alex Drumley
carefully;
he seemed to be a normal guy
.
He d
idn’t curse
,
didn’t talk about negative things
and seemed
intent
on his
research.
I would have nothing to report to
the detective
in the morning
,
and I nearly felt
dreadful
about it.
I figured a few questions couldn’t hurt.

“Alex, I’m sure you know that your fingerprints were found on the murder weapon of the Jody James murder case, right?”

He
cocked his head to the side, studying me as he placed his meter on the table.

“Yes, I am aware.
I’ve already told the cops I was collecting data down in the Dracul’s Den about a week before the murder, and I had to move the sword out of the way.
It was on the slab, and I needed that area to set up my equipment because I couldn’t get one of these folding tables through the tunnel.”

I nodded, feeling invasive for bringing up the subject.

“Makes perfect sense.
Thanks, Alex.
Sorry, I
’m
working the case and must have missed that in the report.”

Lauren remained
vigilant
, assisting
the Hartford investigators.
She
asked
a rainbow of
questions and
took notes
in her
five
subject
spiral
she named on the front with a permanent marker—
Paranormal Data
.

Willow
had relaxed
and
became engrossed in
monitor watching.
As things go,
I believe
she found a new crush
that night,
as she certainly spent a lot of time with a freshman boy from Hartford named Markey.
However, Willow was the last one who needed a new relationship, as she had
an acceptance letter in hand for
an Ivy League program in medicine for the fall. With a full family line of doctors, it was expected.

I checked the time, the
Witching Hour
was fast approaching, but
I could barely keep my eyes open
until brazen footsteps echoed from down the corridor.